Ck333

It doesn't affect my comfort when riding but just wanted some options. Does anyone else have a vintage without tape?

BikeWonder

Use tape. Eventually the salt from your sweaty hands can corrode the bar itself. In the event of sweating, your hands can sleep and steering is affected.
So it's more for your safety than anything else.

Hudson308 

My sweaty hands get slippery with no tape.

Nice bike!!!

scarlson 

If you want to retain that "no tape" feel but protect the bars from corrosion, there's always Benotto!

Jon T

I wouldn't even THINK about riding without tape.
Jon

79pmooney

I hope you are riding with plugs in those bar ends. Think crash. I hit an opening car door 50 years ago. Came forward and planeted both thighs on the ends of my handlebars. Had a deep 1" circular bruise on each thigh. Had I no plugs, those wold have been deep cookie cutter wounds.

The bike shops I worked in would just hand out plugs taken from new bikes to anybody who walked in with a plug-less bar. Plugs, corks, it doesn't matter, Just needs to be something.

Ben

natterberry 

I agree completely with @79pmooney. I took a worn out grip to the chest as a child, had quite the crescent moon shaped scar for years.

noobinsf 

Nice Clubman -- I recently sold its twin, a Puch Bergmeister, that i had been using as a commuter for a while. I really liked it for a city bike.

Anyway, I recognize that as San Francisco, and I agree with others that safety is key. I rode there for a decade, and I never did so without a helmet and lights, and I wouldn't consider riding without tape. You might consider Newbaum's cotton tape, which should be pretty inexpensive and retain a vintage feel. Wine corks for plugs look good, too.

the sci guy 

IMO it looks unfinished without tape - and kinda weird and ugly.
Tape it up, good sir. White, or a green that matches the ring on the seat tube.

Last ride 76 

Yeah sure, I ride with no tape...
Until I figure out brake handle position, asthetics, like type of tape, and color, and until it comes if I don't have it to hand, and I have time to do the taping. Took a year plus this bike, mostly because I wanted to get a longer stem first. Finally gave up on myself and wrapped, cause I was riding it with lumps of blue painters tape to hold the cables in place

SurferRosa

You have to admit, riding without tape is a lot better than riding without a saddle ...

or brakes.

Classtime 

No what!?
So, grips on the drops maybe?

randyjawa 

I agree with Last ride 76 regarding no tape until brake levers are set in place. My 1958 Rabeneick 120d on its test ride. No bar tape, no transmission. Just the bare necessities to be road worthy and safe to ride. All of my bikes are first ridden without tape and transmissions, just to be sure that they track well...


However, once satisfied that the controls are properly situated, I always opt for bar tape. Not the expensive stuff, nosiree! I get the inexpensive stuff from China and I am good to go. I might add that I tend to change my bar tape every riding season, hoping to prevent the sweat from soaking through the tape and damaging the bars. I have seen some handlebars so badly eaten by salt that they cannot be trusted. Anyway, cheap bar tape...

u235

Looks or function. You decide.

Bad Lag

The 11th Commandment - though shalt use bar tape.

P!N20

If only to give us something else to fuss over.

cudak888 

Not a bad idea at all. I found corrosion spots in my Superior's 3TTT bars (not bad ones, just surface) when I re-taped them recently. Cotton doesn't do much to prevent corrosion beneath, and there was no way to know what was going on without unwrapping the bars.

-Kurt

iab

Tape is for sissies. Bone is for real riders.


Frejus 42 by iabisdb, on Flickr



Frejus 45 by iabisdb, on Flickr

canklecat

I rode my Ironman sans bar wrap for a couple of weeks last year, when I was making frequent adjustments.

Looked awful. Like, pawn shop flipped up drop bar hobo beer bike awful.

Surprisingly, it wasn't uncomfortable, at least on my usual 20-30 mile rides. Probably partly due to a combination of good bike fit and better physical conditioning.

But I still prefer padded bar wrap. Better on chip seal after a long ride.

rootboy 

Bone, Iab? Sure looks like wood to me, but then, I'm not picking a bone with you.

randyjawa 

And ya gotta find a seat shaped rock for a saddle:-)

davester

Let me add my voice to the chorus regarding bar plugs. Put those in before you suffer a DIY massive biopsy puncture. Racers showing up without bar plugs get ejected from the race lineup by the safety marshal, for good reason.

randyjawa 

I must admit that the safety concern never crossed my mind, but the above advice, and similar comments from other forum members, is very good, in my opinion. That said, there have been plenty of times when I have been riding sans bar end plugs, but not because I did not want them. The darn things simply fall out, from time to time, leaving the bar end(s) exposed.

It is because of the falling out bar plugs that I started using this Velox style. They look vintage, they are vintage and they work just great...

ryansu

I ride with bare bars during set up so I can move the brake levers if necessary before taping but its only for a ride or two.

Last ride 76 

saddles? Saddles are for sissies.